CELEBRITY WORSHIP: J COLE ON KANYE WEST

I am fresh off watching an interview that I happened to stumble upon on Youtube, a J Cole interview by Angie Martinez. In the interview he talks about many things including his childhood, music inspiration, alcohol, etc. However what really struck accord with me was the honest discussion about his world of celebrity and the unhealthy effectof obsession it is creating. He uses Kanye West’s most recent twitter antics to explain what no other celebrity has yet to admit on this level and that is, the world is falling into the dark abyss of celebrity worship! He was deep, he was honest, and it is clear this is something that he has been mauling over for quite sometime. During the interview he uses restraint and says he does not want to put out a lot of critic about another artist and so he focuses more on the effect that artists are having on the culture rather than the speaking particularly on Kanye West’s motives, mental and emotional state, but he also makes it clear that off the mic (off the record) he has a mouthful for and about Kanye West.

Personally, I think he gave us a lot to identify with.

‘ ..yo celebrity worship! We are worshipping celebrities. At one point I put this dude on a major pedestal, and he aint the only one that been there. Jay been there.. Pac.., Nas…These kids come up to me and tell me the same thing now…’ – J Cole

J Cole talks about at one point having Kanye , Nas and Jay Z on a pedestal and that now, to other kids, he ison that pedestal. Which he would not mind if it stopped at inspiration but it has gone on to become unhealthy! He admits sometimes feeding and also getting caught up in the celebrity worship machine and that it bothers him.

So what exactly is this ‘celebrity worship’ machine?

Kanye West
The rapper comes out and aligns himself with Donald Trump. Makes shocking statements like, ‘Slavery was a choice.’ People are disappointed to learn that the ‘genius god’ would say these things. Culture critics like Charlemagne and fellow like rapper T.I base their arguments on, ‘Kanye is a genius, how can he say that’ and less on a ‘from one human to another’ basis. The problem with that argument is since when is genius exempt from evolution/change in thought and new influence. People were so busy worshipping the genius and forgot that this human being is multi-dimensional, so when the other dimension of the person showed up, worship was interrupted. ‘No! No! Stick to genius, so we can get back to worship! We don’t want you to reveal this other side of your thoughts. Your not human. You are our ‘music genius god’. Kindly step back into your genius box so we can get back to worship and buying the Yeezys.’Its almost like their golden calf has sinned. What would happen if another ‘genius’ like Jeff Bezos of Amazon wore a MAGA hat and announced slavery was a choice?! We all know billions would be wiped off amazon stock in seconds!

Beyonce
Lets talk about the Lemonade album in this instance. She releases an album insinuating adultery, names the side chick, ‘Becky with the good hair’, but does not identify the woman. As this is more than the poor bees can take, it leaves the whole hive in a frenzy and they imagine she left this piece of the puzzle, including retribution for them and so they attack anyone with the slightest connection to the affair. One victim, a woman called Rachel Roy,ended up being so overwhelmed with the attack that she had to take her daughters out of school, get off social media and pretty much go into hiding. What didBeyonce do to stop this?! Absolutely nothing! Silence is consent.
Read the latest here about beyonce masses, etc.

Kim Kardashian
Am not opposed to buying a perfume if you like the scent, her make-up if it matches up, but lets talk about her another of her products, Kimojis. She has released some really raunchy emojis. ‘Send nudes’, visuals of naked butts shaking and we are all quick to buy! Forget about the fact that our younger brothers and sisters play on our phones, and that these emojis can heavily influence impressionable young girls into some detrimental activity. Forget about all that.

What acts of celebrity worship tend to look like:

Mindlessly goingon the attack on behalf of a celebrities, without thought of the cost to another human being’s well being such as their kids or emotions. Taylor Swift and Beyonce do not need us fighting their battles, especially since they will never give us all the facts!

Failing to hold them accountable for their actions because of who they are by continuing to buy in on whatever they are churning out, regardless on motive and effect. Those ass shaking kimojis needed to stay on the shelf!

Being obsessed with every detail of their lives to the point where it takes over our lives. This can also be a collective like the media constantly reporting on something or someone. This one J cole points out!

When you find your self making statements like ‘Beyonce slayed my life’, after she gives an exciting performance,‘Kim k is of the gods’ when she posts her flawless make-up, you are using your mouth & words to worship. Yes, appreciating talent, excellence and great products are completely different from worship. That fine line has officially been crossed with these statements.

Etc

Now what particularly impresses me about the J Cole interview is the fact that this is one of their own comingout and saying, ‘something is wrong here and we all need to wake up and pay attention!’ When its a blogger or a concerned mum, people tend to call it ‘hateration’ or jealousy! But when an insider calls out both the celebrity and the fans for this nonsense, its time to pay attention! What is even more impressive is he points out the reason we worship celebrity and that is that we are broken, with unplugged holes we need to fill. Yal! He ain’t lying. This man preached a whole sermon, just without the bible verses! Biblically, we know that human beings were made to worship and fellowship with God but after the fall of man, this relationship was broken and these ‘unplugged holes’ were created. And so, we are looking for someone, something to worship..

If your interested in the biblical take on self image, the origin of these ‘unplugged holes’ and celebrity worship, then please read my ongoing series on self image.